On a sunny afternoon in the Johto region, on the road to Blackthorn City, Ash and his friends, Misty and Brock, had taken a slight detour after they met a young woman named Lily. Lily was a Pokemon Magician working to create a Pokemon mindreading spell and the trainers had decided to help her. Only an hour or so ago, Team Rocket had tried to steal the final ingredient but thanks to some quick thinking and teamwork, the criminals were foiled and sent blasting off again. Lily was putting the ingredients into her large cauldron as the group watched, clearly fascinated.

"Alright. I think we're almost done. Who wants to try it first?" Lily asked.

"Oh! I want to try first! Please!" Ash gasped, waving his hand up in the air. Brock and Misty sighed but smiled, knowing full well that Ash would be the one to try first. And quite frankly after the earlier incident with Spinarak, Misty wasn't keen on trying another spell.

"Alright, Ash. But I think I should start with a smaller dosage than usual. I just want us to be cautious." Lily informed them.

"Don't sell yourself short Lily." Brock replied.

"Yeah, I'll bet you can do a full spell! Maybe even more." Misty nodded in agreement.

"I'm not afraid! You can do it!" Ash added.

"You guys really think so...?" she asked, surprised at their confidence in her given how the day had gone so far. "Alright...Ash, would you be ok with being under the effects for a bit longer if I do a double batch?"

"Sure thing!" he grinned.

"Alright." She smiled. Lily added the last ingredients together in the pot, then turned to Ash and Pikachu. "Ready?"

"Ready!" Ash nodded.

"Pika!" his partner agreed. Lily nodded back and then stood over the potion.

"Shuckle's shell run amok! Stantler's horn and all the rest! Finish it off with Pikachu's best!" she chanted with a wink.

"Pikachu use Thunderbolt!" Ash called out. Pikachu lept off his shoulder and fired a Thunderbolt into the potion. Upon contact, the potion bubbled up and over the top of the cauldron, turning into a vapor that quickly surrounded Ash.

"Well…I do kinda feel like I'm getting inside Pikachu's head…" Ash commented, the vapor making him noticeably lightheaded and dizzy before covering him completely. After a moment, the vapor started to clear and so did his head, but the first thing he heard was Brock, Misty, Pikachu, and Lily all gasp in shock.

"What is it? What's wrong? Why are you guys looking at me like I have two heads or something?" he asked his friends.

"N-No…there's just one but…" Misty stammered, squatting down to his level. She pulled a mirror out of her bag and held it up to Ash. In the mirror's reflection, Ash saw not himself, but a Pikachu. At first, he couldn't figure out what was going on, until he noticed tufts of fur on the Pikachu that resembled his hairstyle. And to top it off, the Pikachu in the mirror had eyes just like his and was wearing a hat just like his.

"AAAAAAAAAHHHHHHH!" he screamed, jumping back from the mirror. "I'm a Pikachu?!"

"Lily what happened?!" Brock quickly turned to her.

"I-I'm not sure..." Lily said nervously as she began quickly flipping through her spellbook. "It's not supposed to-" she stopped short and gasped.

"What is it?!" Brock asked again.

"The spell has another full page of ingredients! But it's so smudged I can read it!" Lily explained.

"What?!" Ash yelled.

"So…does that mean Ash will be a Pikachu forever...?" Misty asked, clear concern in her voice.

"I...I don't think so..." Lily answered, giving her and Brock a nervous smile. "He should turn back to normal once the spell wears off. Tomorrow morning probably."

"Thank goodness…" Ash sighed in relief. At that moment Ash's fears faded away and the coolness of his situation began to settle in. "In that case…this is so cool! I'm a Pikachu! Hey Pikachu, Togepi! Let's all play together!"

"Oh, brother." Misty sighed, but she still smiled at Ash and the other Pokemon.

The group said goodbye to Lily and parted ways soon afterward, resuming their journey towards Blackthorn City. Once the sun began to set, they stopped again for dinner and camp. Brock got to work cooking while Misty began setting up the sleeping bags. Unable to do much to help in his current condition, Ash walked over to and sat beside Pikachu, having learned earlier in the day that he could understand other Pokemon perfectly like this.

"Hey, Pikachu? You think you could show me how to use some attacks?" he asked.

"It takes a while and a lot of hard work to learn attacks. And Lily said the spell would only last until tomorrow morning." Pikachu commented.

"Still. I think it'd be fun to try our luck while we have time." Ash smiled.

"Well..." Pikachu hesitated. He didn't want his best friend to somehow end up electrocuting himself trying to use Thunderbolt.

"Think I have your moves?" Ash quickly asked, not sensing his partner's hesitation.

"Maybe." Pikachu admitted.

"Ash! Pikachu! Brock says the food is ready!" Misty called over to them.

"Coming." Ash called back, running back to the ground with Pikachu. They both ran over to Misty who set out a bowl of Pokemon food in front of Pikachu.

"Wait a minute, I'm getting regular food right..? Right..?" Ash asked, suddenly realizing the possibility of eating from a Pokemon bowl.

"Of course." She nodded.

"Ah. Okay." He smiled. Misty smiled back and sat down beside Brock to begin eating.

"There you guys are." Brock said.

"Well, it's not like I'd wander off now of all times. I'm more careful than tha-" Ash tried to inform his friends, but he suddenly stepped on his own tail. "OW!"

"Right..." Misty sweatdropped. Ash grumbled under his breath at his own clumsiness and uncanny timing. Brock chuckled and then proceeded to set a plate of food down in front of him.

"Here you go, Ash." He smiled.

"Thanks." Ash replied. He looked at the plate for a moment and sweatdropped. "It's wider than me." He thought to himself. "This is going to be an interesting few hours..."

"As long as you change back tomorrow morning it'll be ok." Misty pointed out.

"That's what Lily said. If anyone would know it's her." Ash nodded.

"The spell she used on Misty only lasted a few minutes. And that was with a normal dose. Since she used a double dose on Ash, I'm sure that's why it'll take until tomorrow morning to wear off." Brock explained further.

"Well, for now, I'm starving! Let's eat!" Ash cheered, diving into his plate of food. Brock and Misty chuckled and began eating their food as well. Ash continued to eat quietly without much trouble, adapting to eating in his new form quite easily. Unsurprising given his love of food, but still impressive to his friends, especially since his smaller size didn't seem to affect how much food he could eat in on sitting. Once everyone had eaten their fill, Misty helped Brock pack up the food and finish setting up the sleeping bags while Ash began playing with Pikachu and Togepi again. The sun set not long afterward and the two humans laid down on their sleeping bags to go to sleep. Pikachu and Ash curled up side-by-side on Ash's pillow, yawning tiredly from the big day.

"See you all in the morning." Misty smiled as she finished tucking Togepi in.

"Night." Ash replied. He smirked a bit and stuck his tongue out at her. "We'll stop any bed bugs from biting. Won't we Pikachu?"

"Haha." Misty said sarcastically, rolling her eyes. Ash laid his head back down and all the members of their group fell asleep relatively quickly.

Everyone slept peacefully until the next morning. Ash was the first to wake up and he rubbed his eyes. He stretched and gave a long yawn before climbing off the pillow. With typical morning sluggishness, he made his way over to a nearby stream to splash water on his face. He approached the bank of the stream and leaned forward to grab the water, but then stopped dead in his tracks. He stood perfectly still and stared at his reflection in the water. Not only was he still a Pikachu, but the transformation seemed to have gone even further. The tufts of fur that looked like his hair had smoothed down and his eyes had become the same black and white spheres as Pikachu's eyes were. The only difference between him and a normal Pikachu now was the hat he was wearing.

"P-pika? PIKA!?" he gasped. His eyes widened even more when he heard the voice coming out of his own mouth, one now near-identical to Pikachu's. The Electric Pokemon's ears perk up at Ash's voice and he slowly opened his eyes.

"Huh...?" he asked, slowly lifting his head and rubbing the sleep from his eyes. He looked over at his trainer and saw him running around in a complete panic, looking more like a Pikachu than ever. "Ash?"

"I'm still a Pikachu! I can't speak English anymore, a-and my hair!" Ash screamed as he continued running around the camp. The commotion caused their friends to stir and wake up as well.

"What's going on…?" Brock asked, trying to stifle a yawn.

"Pikachu...keep it down would ya...?" Misty complained, covering her head with a pillow.

"PIKACHU-PI! PIKA PIKAPI!" Ash yelled. Misty groaned in irritation and sat up, finally facing him.

"Pikachu! I thought I said-" her sentence stopped short when she saw both Pikachu and Ash. The ladder pointed frantically towards Pikachu shaking his head, trying to communicate with them any way he could.

"PI PIKA PIKACHU! PI PIKAPI! PI PI PIKACHU-PI PI PI!" he tried desperately to tell them.

"A-Ash...?" Misty asked, near breathlessly. The situation was just too much for Ash. He held his head and screamed again in frustration before he ran off into the woods in a full-blown panic.

"Ash!" Pikachu yelled, running after his partner.

"Ash wait!" Misty called, running after him with Brock right behind her. They tried their best to keep up with Ash and keep him in sight, but with the full transformation, came similar abilities to Pikachu. In his panic, Ash accidentally activated his Agility and disappeared into the forest in the blink of an eye. Nearby, a woman with short silver hair and a dark cloak was supervising her men as they loaded petrified Pokémon in glass cases onto a boat docked nearby.

"Move you, idiots! We have other jobs to do!" she demanded. But just as they were gathering the last of the boxes, Ash ran out of the tree line of the forest and into the clearing. Because he wasn't looking where he was going, or was even aware he had just used Agility, he ran face-first into the woman's red, heeled boot.

"Pik!" he yelped.

"What in the-?!" she gasped, looking at who had just run into her. Ash sat on the ground at her feet, holding his nose in pain and completely unaware of the danger he was in.

"Pika…" he groaned in pain.

"Hmm..." the woman suddenly snapped her fingers and an Ariados crawled down from a tree nearby and fired String Shot at Ash, trying him up before he even realized what had happened.

"Pi?! PIKACHU CHU PIKAPI PPPIIIKKKAAA!" Ash screamed as he struggled frantically against his restraints. The woman watched him and seemed almost disappointed by the lack of a fight from him.

"Not very powerful." She commented. "But someone may want him as a pet. Load him onto the boat." She ordered. Ariados obeyed her command and picked Ash up and carried him to a crate. Ash let out a howl of rage and fear, calling for anyone to help him. But no one came as Ariados threw him into one of the remaining crates and the woman sealed it up. Ash could only stare at the inside of the wooden crate in horror as he felt someone pick it up and carry it away, along with him inside. The woman and all her men boarded the boat and began to pull out of the area just before Brock and Misty arrived. All they saw was the last glimpse of the boat before it disappeared on the horizon. And with Ash nowhere in sight, it didn't take a genius to determine what happened.

"ASH!" Brock yelled towards the ship.

"Oh no!" Misty gasped.

"Pika pi..." Pikachu whispered, on the verge of tears.

The boat ride lasted ten long hours. Ash was unable to break out of the crate he was trapped in. He had no idea where they were taking him, but he didn't plan on staying with them long. He knew he was on his own now, and he had to escape. Since he had nothing but time on his hands, he began trying to use attacks. He practiced and practiced and practiced until he was able to at least activate his Agility and use a very weak Thundershock. He suddenly felt the boat stop moving, indicated they had reached their destination. He could hear shuffling around him as the men began moving boxes. It wasn't long until he felt one of them pick up his own box, and begin carrying it towards the gangplank of the ship. Ash stumbled around inside a bit as he tried to find his footing, but he still watched carefully for his opening to escape.

"What's in this one?" one of the men asked his associate.

"Doesn't say. Hang on." Another replied. He grabbed a crowbar and started prying the top of the box open, as he assumed any Pokemon inside would have been petrified already. As soon as the lid was off, Ash fired the best Thundershock he could muster. It wasn't much power at all, but it was enough to startle the men and make them drop the box.

"Ack!" the first yelled as he stumbled back from the crate. Ash seized his chance and lept out of the crate and without hesitation he ran away as far and fast as he could, managing to trigger Agility again in the process.

"Stop that rat!" one of the men ordered the others. Several of the men started to chase Ash as he ran towards a large patch of thick woods up ahead. Ash ran as fast as he possibly could right into the dense forest until he was completely out of stamina and felt like his lungs might burst.

"Pi...pi..." he panted. The lack of food and tireless training was one thing, but combine that with everything else that had happened that day, it was all just too much for him and he finally collapsed, passing out as he did. Luckily for him, he collapsed into a thick bush just off the main path. And he was a mile or so ahead of the men, so none of them noticed him collapse. They ran right by the bush he was in without even a sideways glance. He laid unconscious in the bush for hours, several dozen people walked right by without a clue that he was there. It wasn't until the late afternoon that an Oran Berry rolled into the bush and stopped beside him. Someone looking for the berry soon pushed the leaves and branches of the bush aside and gasped when she saw him lying there.

"Oh my…"

To be Continued...